how to take pictures of your corals (camera settings tutorial)

Lielka

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Hello!
Photograph under actinic in RAW format. Stamped as white balance and camera (Canon 30D), and in Photoshop. Still no result. Everything in the picture is still blue. I'm tired of fighting and want this here effect. To fluorescence was clearly visible. There are tips? Thank you!

magic_zpsd91a8833.jpg


That turns out such a horror. This is unless under actinic pictures.

IMG_1938.jpg
IMG_8047_1.jpg



When photographing under white and actinic, no problem.
 

benny z

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I personally don't shoot in RAW. I got lucky and was able to get a darn-near-perfect custom white balance set on the camera itself, and never have to adjust color/white balance in post processing. I simply shoot my images in JPEG format (oh, the blasphemy!), and then only crop/adjust levels (NOT color/white balance...just high/mid/low points), and apply a slight unsharpen mask to crisp-en up the images from my aging camera. I am usually shooting under a broad-spectrum LED blend, T5, or 20k halide.

Cheers!
 

gparr

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I'm not sure I understand your situation, so I'll try to cover all bases for you. If you are going to photograph the zoanthids under actinic light only, you're going to get a blue result. If you shoot RAW and want to correct the white balance, you need to use software that came with your camera (Canon's DPP) or Photoshop/Lightroom. With the software you use the white balance dropper and select an area in the image that, under normal light, will be a middle gray tone. I usually use the darker shade of coralline algae. There's usually some of that in every shot. When you click on an area, the software will correct the white balance an remove the blue. However, if you want to remove the blue, it's much easier if you shoot with all lights on, i.e., actinic and white. If you want to see the fluorescence that occurs with actinic lights but want to remove the blue, that's tricky. In DPP/Photoshop/Lightroom, try moving the color temperature and tint sliders in the white balance module to get the result you want. I hope I understood what you are looking for and was helpful. If not, please ask your question in a different way.
Gary
 

gparr

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Photographing reef aquariums with a phone puts you at the mercy of the phone's camera limitations. Two apps that I find valuable are Camera+, which I use instead of the built-in iPhone camera app; and Snapseed, which provides considerable photo manipulation capability.
Gary
 

Lielka

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With full lights, I get so horosho.Vot, while purely ktinichnom Veta, even after processing in Photoshop did not go well (
Say something about the yellow filters on the lens, but in Russia they are not in the sale (
 

gparr

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The last image you posted looks rather good. The white balance has to be at least close to accurate because the egg crate is white. With frag shots, the egg crate is the first place I look to see if the white balance is correct. I'm not understanding what you don't like about the shot. You should not be using any colored filters on your lens.
Gary
 

Lielka

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Yes, in full light turns elegant, but there is no strong fluorescence, and it can be achieved only when aktinnikah. A photograph obtained under aktinnikami all blue (That's the problem (
Liked as photographed palitoya magikan, fluorastsent seen whether it is made perfectly well using photoshop? But pictures seen the background and it is blue.
 

benny z

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The white balance has to be at least close to accurate because the egg crate is white. With frag shots, the egg crate is the first place I look to see if the white balance is correct.

Hi Gary! You know I love you! :)

But I have to disagree to some extent here. White egg crate under a blue-heavy blend of lights...isn't white in person. It's not really artificially blue, as I'm sure is what you are trying to convey...but it's also not a true white suitable for setting a white balance. At least, in my opinion and experience. With my custom white balance, everything appears as it does to the eye in my images...so white egg crate probably will never be truly white in my images. Now if I were shooting under a 10k halide where the egg crate would likely appear white to the eye...different story. ;)

firefish.jpg


Cheers!
 

gparr

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Benny, you're misunderstanding me. You can't use egg crate to set white balance. You have to use a mid-tone gray. When you use the correct gray tone, the egg crate will appear white. The term white balance is very deceiving. When you set a custom white balance for jpg shooting, you typically photography a white surface in the custom white balance mode. That tells the camera that what it just photographed should be white and all colors adjusted accordingly. When setting the white balance in a RAW file using software you choose the mid-gray tone. For me, I always start with the darker shade of coralline algae.
Gary
 

benny z

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Ok! Yes, totally understand we have different methods to achieve similar results. No problem. I am still in awe of your work. :)
 

gparr

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Yes, in full light turns elegant, but there is no strong fluorescence, and it can be achieved only when aktinnikah. A photograph obtained under aktinnikami all blue (That's the problem (
Liked as photographed palitoya magikan, fluorastsent seen whether it is made perfectly well using photoshop? But pictures seen the background and it is blue.

Now I understand what you're trying to achieve. You want an image with correct white balance and the fluorescence you see under actinic lights. I would suggest that, in just about all cases, you're not going to be able to achieve that. Sorry.
Gary
 

gparr

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Lielka, if you're willing, send me your best RAW file to the e-mail address in my signature. I'd like to process the image to see what results I get.
Gary
 

gparr

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Nice collection and nice clean shots with accurate white balance. You should be proud of the corals and the photography.
Gary
 
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